After nearly completing an entire 25-year sentence for a murder he did not commit, a Brooklyn man will win a bittersweet victory Tuesday, when he is expected to be vindicated and walk free.
Jonathan Fleming, 51, did 24 years for allegedly gunning down 22-year-old Darryl Rush outside a Brooklyn apartment building in 1989.
Evidence, however, overwhelmingly showed that Fleming was in Florida at the time of the slaying.
“[Prosecutors] had the evidence that this man was on a Disney World vacation when this crime was committed,” said his attorney, Taylor Koss. “It’s disgusting.”
Fleming was sentenced to 25 years to life in 1990 and was scheduled to be eligible for parole later this year.
But Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson intervened and said that he will dismiss the charges against Fleming “in the interest of justice,” according to ProPublica.org.
Fleming’s lawyers applauded the decision, but lashed out at his treatment.
“Mr. Fleming is very happy that this day has come, but it’s too little, too late,” Koss said. “The man suffered for almost 25 years for a crime he didn’t commit.”
Fleming’s lawyers maintain that prosecutors chose to ignore the evidence that would have exonerated him.
Included in that was a receipt from an Orlando hotel that showed Fleming paid for a phone bill there just hours before the murder. Also, an Orlando police report confirmed that several hotel employees remembered Fleming being there.
And it was further discovered that a key witness in the case agreed to testify against him only to avoid prosecution herself.